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UPDATE: Video of Rincon's mile-long fire hose

DeAnn Komanecky/Effingham Now Rincon firefighter Walter Wright, Fire Chief Corey Rahn and firefighers Lou Reed and Bronson Gillespie, with stacks of the department's new mile-long fire hose. The hose will be used to fight fires a great distance from a water source.

DeAnn Komanecky/Effingham Now Stacks of the Rincon Fire Department's new mile-long fire house fill the rear of a fire truck. The new 5-inch, 6,000 foot fire hose weighs a pound a foot without water. It will allow Rincon to fight fires a great distance from a water source.

DeAnn Komanecky/Effingham Now

G.G. Rigsby/Effingham Now Some of the 6,000 feet of hose that Rincon's fire department can lay to reach buildings that are not near hydrants or ponds.

G.G. Rigsby/Effingham Now Lou Reed, a firefighter in Rincon, works with 6,000 feet of hose the department is using to better reach buildings that aren't near hydrants or ponds.

Mathematical formulas and decades of experience said it couldn’t be done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRedtAWvMYQ

But Rincon’s fire department has a video on YouTube that’s been viewed more than 14,000 times that proves they did it.

In 11 minutes in August, three firefighters laid a 5-inch fire hose more than a mile long that had a constant flow of 950 gallons per minute — enough to fight a raging fire.

It is the first department in Georgia to pass the Insurance Services Office (ISO) test for laying a 6,000 foot hose.

The feat means the department can fight fires more than a mile away from the nearest water source, such as a hydrant, pond or river. It is one of a number of things the department has done in an effort to better protect people and try to get a lower ISO rating, which would lower property owners’ insurance rates.

Firefighters with decades of experience didn’t believe the 6,000-foot hose could be deployed quickly and deliver water with enough pressure to fight a fire, said Rincon Fire Chief Corey Rahn.

They were using mathematical formulas that have been used for decades to determine friction loss in a fire hose and calculate pressures and flow rates. Too low, and the water is insufficient for fire control. Too high, and handling the nozzle can be dangerous or the hose can burst.

“With old-school calculations, it does not work,” Rahn said. But better hose and stronger pumps have proved the formulas are out of date.

“Put it out there on the ground, I’ve seen it,” Rahn said. “It does work. Is it still the deep end? Maybe. Will it lower the ISO rating? Yes.”

Rahn got the idea for the long hose lay from his ISO consultant, Skip Starling. Starling’s company, National Fire Services Office, based in Screven County, first demonstrated the method about 12 years ago.

Starling said he figured it would work and wanted to test his theory.

He took all the hose from four departments in East Bend, N.C., ran a test and proved it would work.

Since then, it’s been used all over the country by rural fire departments, but Rincon is the first place in Georgia to do it.

The method is faster, cheaper and has less liability than using tankers to shuttle water to distant locations, Starling said.

He said he was pleasantly surprised when Rahn expressed an interest in the long hose lay.

Cities don’t usually worry about reaching long distances to fight fires, but Rahn wanted to better reach his district’s outlying areas.

Rincon “should get an attaboy on this,” Starling said. “Cities don’t usually do this.”

While the method is less expensive than using tankers, the hose isn’t cheap. Rincon's 6,000 feet cost $30,000.

And it’s heavy. Without any water in it, it weighs a pound a foot. For 6,000 feet, that’s 6,000 pounds, or three tons.

The cost of a used truck to carry the hose was $87,000. When it’s all done, Rahn estimates the department will spend a total of more than $130,000 for the equipment needed to lay the 6,000-foot hose.

Collecting the hose after it’s deployed is a difficult, time-consuming task. Rahn said 15 firefighters worked 4.5 hours in stifling heat to gather the hose.

But then they borrowed a “hose mule” from another department.

The device drains, flattens and loads large-diameter hose. Then, four men were able to gather the hose in 2.5 hours.

The city is going to purchase its own hose mule, Rahn said.

The department hasn’t had to use the long hose on a fire, at least not yet. Rahn says he hopes they never have to use it, but it’s a tool they have just in case.

In addition to the long hose lay, recent improvements at the department include going from an all-volunteer force to five paid, full-time firefighters and 45 volunteers.

New trucks and another station also were added. And the department also has drafted “pre-plans” for most of the buildings in its district – plans showing such things as the layout of a building, location of electrical boxes and sprinkler systems and the nearest water sources.

The city expects to learn soon if the efforts will pay off in a lower ISO rating.

Meanwhile, Rincon’s record in the state of Georgia for laying the longest hose may not stand for long. Rincon firefighters have been sharing their newfound knowledge with adjacent Screven County, which hopes to lay an 8,000-foot line in January.

And Starling said he's been working with Sumter County, which also plans to do an 8,000-foot lay soon.